So, there's this guy named {{Prince}}, you may have heard of him...[[SelfDeprecation Skinny motherfucker with the high voice]], [[IAmTheBand plays every instrument known to man]], made some really catchy tunes, quite the SmallNameBigEgo sometimes, [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder wrote nearly a thousand songs]].

No, you didn't read that wrong. Prince is famous for being prolific when it comes to songwriting. This landed him in a bit of trouble with his record label in TheEighties - see, Creator/WarnerBrosRecords wanted him to do the same write-record-release-tour grind as everybody, but he was crankin' out tunes so quickly that they just couldn't keep up with his ever-expanding vault. As a means to avoid this, Prince wrote numerous songs under pseudonyms or gave them to others - Prince's musical ProductionPosse, if you will.

Now, if you're not a devoted Prince fan, this is just going to be more ArchivePanic for a man that already has a huge discography. But Prince had lots of talented musicians in his entourage back in TheEighties, and the records of his associates are mostly interesting, with the occasional stinker, and at best just as catchy and well-made as his own. Thanks to the lack of availability of these albums, one can even claim that these associates would [[SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove Need More Love]], although exactly who does is an exercise best left to the listener. Indeed, barely any of the artists listed below actually garnered their own fanbase to sell albums to; many only listen to them because of Prince's involvement with their careers.

Prince's associates generally come in a few flavours depending on songwriting:* People for whom Prince played every single instrument, wrote every single note (cleverly disguised with pseudonyms on the album credits) and sometimes [[ControlFreak even the lyrics]]. All they had to do was just add their vocals on top. For example: Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6.* People for whom Prince composed and produced but they had their own input, including lyrics, co-writing credits and occasionally playing instruments. For example: Sheila E., New Power Generation and Ingrid Chavez.* People for whom Prince sporadically contributed material but otherwise didn't do much. For example: Sheena Easton, Mavis Staples, Martika, and others.* Actual bands with which Prince was involved. For example: Madhouse and 94 East.* Formerly associated with him in some way but then broke away completely. Example: Wendy and Lisa, Dr. Fink, Brown Mark, Bobby Z., David Z., and so on.* Stuff which fits into more than one category. For example: The Time and The Family. This will be duly noted.

Also a fun note: many of these releases ended up out of print because they appeared on Prince's record label Paisley Park Records, and that was shut down in 1994 by Warner Bros. due to severe mismanagement from his managers Bob Cavallo, Joe Ruffalo and Steve Fargnoli[[note]]How {{egregious}}? They'd paid such exorbitant advances to signees (who were frequently signed behind Prince's back!) that Warner forced Prince to lend Paisley Park Studios to other bands in an attempt to recoup some of their losses[[/note]]. [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes Keep (mostly) Circulating The Tapes]] (you can go ahead and "lose" the ones for Vanity and Apollonia 6, for starters.) Also, keep in mind that this list is by no means complete: there are several projects that never saw any form of release outside of bootlegs (like The Rebels and M.C. Flash) and there are probably even more that we don't even know about, sitting in Prince's vault.

----'''Just added vocals'''

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/v6.jpg[[caption-width:316:You can probably guess their whole deal by looking at this...]]

Vanity 6 deserve a bit of a special mention since they were the first side-project Prince came up with on his own and produced an album for.[[note]]Prince ''had'' formed a rock band in 1979 called The Rebels, but they only recorded a handful of songs that were shelved. PaulaAbdul was later given their song "U" (heavily rearranged to not be rock), and "If I Love You Tonight" somehow made its way onto Mayte's album. And... uh, Prince pretends 94 East or Grand Central/Champagne, the bands we was involved with before going solo, never happened.[[/note]] So, basically the whole madness of Prince's empire of associates starts here.

Vanity 6 were a GirlGroup formed by Prince sometime in 1981, supposedly after watching ''Film/AStarIsBorn'' and thinking "Oh hey, that's neat. I wanna do that!" He managed to gather together three of his female friends, Susan Moonsie, Brenda Bennett and Jamie Shoop. We can only presume how awkward the meeting was when Prince told them that they would be named "The Hookers", would perform in lingerie and sing about sex a lot. The sheer fact that he wasn't comically chased out of the room is amazing in itself.

Somehow, presumably through his immense charm, he managed to convince them to record a few demos. He then met nude model and B movie actress Denise Matthews, famous for [[SarcasmMode her widely acclaimed roles in]] ''[[SarcasmMode Terror Train]]'' [[SarcasmMode and]] ''[[SarcasmMode Tanya's Island]]''. Also, a certain part of the body. An awestruck Prince kicked out Shoop and installed his new girlfriend Matthews as the frontwoman instead, giving her the StageName "Vanity". YouDoNotWantToKnow one of the stories about its origin. But if you do: [[spoiler:Prince wanted to name her "Vagina", clarifying that [[ItsPronouncedTroPAY it would be pronounced "vag-EE-na"]], because [[SarcasmMode that's how you pronounce it in Minnesota or something]]. She predictably went "dude, WTF?" and managed to bargain it down to "Vanity".]][[note]]Hey, we warned you.[[/note]]

With the Vanity-Bennett-Moonsie lineup in place and a healthy supply of lingerie and IntercourseWithYou lyrics, Prince renamed the group Vanity 6. The "6" supposedly came from the amount of breasts in the group, thus making Vanity 6 the only band to have been named after a case of MyEyesAreUpHere.

The group released one album, ''Vanity 6'' in 1982. Prince wrote and produced it almost completely (disguising this fact by crediting himself as "The Starr Company" and randomly assigning credits around, with Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson managing to sneak in a credit for "He's So Dull", Jesse Johnson co-writing "Bite the Beat" and Terry Lewis co-writing "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)".) The album itself represented a pretty generic example of Prince's [[SignatureStyle Minneapolis sound]], with two forays into synthy PowerPop ("He's So Dull" and "Bite the Beat") and lots of exaggerated, {{Narm}}y lyrics about IntercourseWithYou sung by three women with average vocal talent. [[SexSells Needless to say, it became a hit and spawned a big hit single with "Nasty Girl"]]. "He's So Dull" also appeared in ''NationalLampoonsVacation''.

Vanity 6 broke up a year later in 1983, when Vanity suddenly dropped out of the Prince camp and gave up her role in ''PurpleRain''. Undaunted, Prince replaced her with Patricia "Apollonia" Kotero and re-named them "Apollonia 6". Vanity went on to release two albums on the Motown label and dated MotleyCrue's bass player, Nikki Sixx. She also started to abuse drugs, to the point where she was hospitalized and given a kidney transplant in 1994. From that point onward, Vanity reverted to her birthname and dedicated her life to God, becoming an evangelical minister in 1998.

!Vanity 6 provides examples of:

* CallAndResponseSong: "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)".* TheCameo: Prince himself plays the girl on the other end of the line in "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)". This was recorded well before he started speeding up his voice for female vocals and he already proved he could pull off a falsetto, so it's more like, "If a Guy Answers." In fact, Prince was trying to imitate Morris Day's voice.** Prince also appears in the unreleased "Vibrator" as the shopkeep that sells Vanity batteries for her "body massager".* DoubleEntendre: "Bite the Beat", which is more than likely about cunnilingus.* GirlGroup* GoodBadGirl: All three members were boxed into a certain personality. Vanity became this by default.* TheImmodestOrgasm: The aforementioned "Vibrator".* IntercourseWithYou + BawdySong: 75% of their catalogue is this.* InsistentTerminology: In "Vibrator", Vanity insists the titular item is a "body massager". No-one she talks to is fooled by this pretense.* LadEtte: Brenda chose the role of the cigarette-smoking tough chick. Probably the best straw she could draw.* [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] / PowerPop: arguably "He's So Dull" and "Bite the Beat".* {{Sampling}}: Prince later sampled the orgasm in "Vibrator" a few times for his band Madhouse, and for his own song "Orgasm" off the album ''Come''. Vanity is credited as "she knows" for the latter.* SexSells: Subverted, in that they didn't sell so well.* SelfTitledAlbum* SpokenWordInMusic: "If a Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)", which was mostly a rap song; and several other snippets throughout the album.---> '''from "Nasty Girl":''' "I don't like this groove. Try and give me somethin' I can croon to? Catch my drift?"---> '''from "Bite the Beat":''' ""That's right, there'll be no more wet dreams for Brenda. [[TooMuchInformation At least not tonight.]]"* StageNames: Vanity.* UnusualEuphemism: From "Wet Dream": "I know he could deliver a dam to the river anytime."----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a6.jpg[[caption-width:304:Wow! It's a [[SarcasmMode completely different]] band!]]

Really, that's pretty much it. After Vanity resigned from the band in 1983, Prince found actress Patricia Kotero after a frantic casting call. Re-christened "Apollonia", she was installed as the new frontwoman and the band was very appropriately renamed "Apollonia 6".

Apollonia played Prince's girlfriend in ''PurpleRain'' and the entire band made an appearance. An album, ''Apollonia 6'', followed in 1984 but by this point Prince lost interest in his GirlGroup, since Apollonia told him that she was OnlyInItForTheMoney. While ''Apollonia 6'' featured much better production values and backing vocals from Wendy & Lisa and Jill Jones, it suffered from even weaker material than before and even more over-the-top "explicit" lyrics that stumbled bravely into Narmland, as seen by the hilariously stupid "Sex Shooter" and the HotForStudent song "Happy Birthday Mr. Christian". You know you're in a bad position when what's most notable about your album is what songs ''didn't'' make it - reportedly, Prince had considered "Manic Monday", "17 Days", "The Glamorous Life" and his duet with Apollonia, "Take Me With U", for inclusion on ''Apollonia 6'' before he geave them to TheBangles, himself, Sheila E. and himself again (on the ''PurpleRain'' soundtrack), respectively.

The band broke up for good a year later. Brenda managed to snag herself backing vocals on "17 Days", and release a country album in 2011, but otherwise hasn't done anything in the interim; Apollonia continued with her acting/modeling career and dropped a solo album in 1988; and Susan… we'll get back to you on that.

Fun side-note? The chorus of Music/ThePixies' "Debaser" was originally "Shed, Apollonia!" before it mutated into "Un chien andalusia!", thus making Apollonia 6 [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the only Prince-associated band to get a]] ShoutOut [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative in a Pixies song.]]

!Apollonia 6 provides examples of:

* GirlGroup* GratuitousSpanish: Since Apollonia could speak it fluently, Prince used it to full effect on "In a Spanish Villa".* HotForStudent: "Happy Birthday Mr. Christian".* TheImmodestOrgasm: Brenda fires one off at the end of "Some Kind of Lover". She's whispers, "I'm embarrassed", directly afterward.* IntercourseWithYou + BawdySong: 85% of their catalogue, easily.* [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]]* PissTakeRap: "Ooh She She Wa Wa". Actually, ''Apollonia 6'' is pretty much a Piss Take ''Album''.* SelfTitledAlbum* SpokenWordInMusic: [[GratuitousSpanish "In a Spanish Villa"]]. Apollonia makes out with a man named Oliver [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in a Spanish villa]] for the duration of the song.** "Ooh She She Wa Wa" opens with a lengthy spoken word section. "Some Kind of Lover" also includes some as well.* StageNames: Apollonia.----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jj.jpg[[caption-width:300:Who forgot to turn off the DramaticWind fan?]]

[[AC:Jill Jones]] (later moved to '''no involvement''')

Who the hell is Jill Jones?

Well, she was a backup singer for R&B star Teena Marie back at the start of TheEighties, and this is exactly how she met Prince during his 1980 ''Dirty Mind'' tour. She was quickly recruited as a backing singer for The Revolution itself, adding backing vocals to several songs on ''1999'' and appearing in the videos for "1999" and "Little Red Corvette". She had a bit part as a waitress in ''PurpleRain'' and a cameo in its shittier sequel ''Graffiti Bridge'', in a scene where she [[{{Squick}} takes off an undergarment to end a conflict with Prince]]. [[{{Squick}} Squ- wait, WTF?]] Oh, wait, this is the guy who came up with the idea for Vanity 6. Nevermind.

Prince repaid her contributions to ''1999'' by producing her solo album, ''Jill Jones'', which was released in 1987. Once again, he did everything and wrote all the songs and Jones merely had to put vocals on top. However, this album gained actual positive reviews from critics, mainly because Jones actually had vocal talent and could sing, as opposed to the competent vocals of Vanity and Apollonia, or the pleasant-but-bland vocals of Sheila E. and The Family.

After this, Jones did... well, nothing really. A second album got as far as the demo stage before being cancelled. She did tour with {{Chic}} in 1996 though. She finally emerged with a new, completely Prince-less pop-rock album in 2001.

* SelfTitledAlbum* SpellingSong: "G-Spot". Each line of the two and a half verses start with "_ is for ____", spelling out "FINALLY".----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tt.jpg[[caption-width:499:Morris Day And The Motherfuckin' Time]]

The Time were a [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly pop-funk-rock]] ensemble that relied heavily on RuleOfFunny and [[EpicRocking very long jams]]. They were largely defined by frontman [[FaceOfTheBand Morris Day's]] hilarious lyrics and ChivalrousPervert-HandsomeLech persona, with Jerome Benton serving as his {{Foil}}. This dynamic was observed through their appearance in ''Purple Rain'' as Prince's rival band, and Day's humorous persona proved to be one of the few points that critics liked, with many even commenting that he upstaged Prince's acting (not much of a compliment, admittedly... [[DullSurprise Prince's acting]] makes KeanuReeves look like WilliamShatner).

As befitting an associate band, for their initial period of 1981-1985, Prince played all instruments on The Time albums and simply overdubbed their vocals. However, Prince got HoistByHisOwnPetard here as The Time ably played the same songs live and occasionally would show up Prince when opening for The Revolution to get back at him for lack of input and low payments (a live recording circulating from 1983 features Jellybean playing the complicated drum machine part from "777-9311" perfectly, and at a much faster tempo.) The band became notoriously displeased after having to also play as the backing band for Vanity 6 while live (as they were credited for those performances) during the Prince/Time/Vanity 6 "Triple Threat" Tour. Jam and Lewis were sacked by Prince after being snowed in and missing a flight to a concert and were replaced just in time for the film ''PurpleRain''. The replacement soured the band's relationship with Prince, and caused tension between the remaining members.

Day left the band after an argument with Prince in 1985, focusing on a solo career. The Time disbanded right then, with its remaining members being amalgamated into The Family, and Jam and Lewis going on to be famous {{Record Producer}}s, mostly for their work with JanetJackson. Jerome Benton also starred as Prince's sidekick in ''Under the Cherry Moon'', and similarly managed to out-act Prince and be considered the one character reviewers liked. Jesse Johnson put out a solo album named ''Shockadelica'' in 1986, which drove Prince to write a song called "Shockadelica" since he felt an album with that cool a title needed a title song, but Johnson had neglected to write one.

The band reunited in 1990, this time with limited involvement from Prince and much more creative control. The resulting album, ''Pandemonium'', spawned their highest selling single, "Jerk Out". They also appeared on the soundtrack to ''Graffiti Bridge'', on the songs "Release It", "Shake!", "Love Machine" and "The Latest Fashion" (the last in collaboration with Prince).

They then kind of disappeared again, spawning two different touring acts; The Time (which included Jam and Lewis) and Morris Day & the Time (which included the other members.) In 2011, spurred by a performance at the 2008 Grammys, all seven original members reformed under the name The Original 7ven (as Prince refused to license the name "The Time" out to them) and are recording together again.

* BlatantLies: Several early songs (notably "777-9311") include moments where Morris calls for band members by name, so that they can solo. In actuality, Prince played every note for them. Averted on 1990's "Jerk Out" and everything on "Pandemonium" past it: once Morris declares, "Cut 'em, Jesse", Jesse Johnson actually solos for himself. The version of "The Bird" heard on their album ''Ice Cream Castles'' is a live cut, and is also the only time the band is heard playing their own instruments.** In an extension of this, The Time were credited with performing every note on Vanity 6's album, when it was actually all Prince again.** From "Wild and Loose": "Don't worry baby, I can keep a secret for as long as snow is white / Hey Jesse, come here man, guess what I did last night?"* CallAndResponseSong: A staple of their repetoire. Live performances transformed more of their catalogue into this type of song.* CatchPhrase: "What time is it?", "Ain't nobody bad, like me", "Now I know that's right" and "Somebody bring me a mirror (so I can look at X)"[[note]]the X usually being a variation of "myself"[[/note]]* ChivalrousPervert or HandsomeLech: Morris Day.* DanceSensation: Parodied with "The Walk". Played straight with "Jungle Love" and "The Bird".* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Despite being TheCasanova, Morris sang both a ballad about pining over a love that had moved on, and a new wave track about the end of high school, on the band's first album. These topics were never revisited.* EpicRocking: "Get It Up", "Cool", "The Stick", "Wild and Loose", "The Walk", "Ice Cream Castles", "The Bird", "Jerk Out", "Chocolate", "Skillet".* Filler: "Dreamland" from ''Pandemonium'' is an extended dream sequence in which The Time reunite on stage. It is the first 2:30 on the album. The short skits "Yount" and "Pretty Little Women" also qualify, though "Yount" is actually kinda funny.* GenreSavvy: In "Chili Sauce", Morris tells Jerome in an aside to prompt Morris to stop wooing on a girl by the number 17. He then fills the next 16 phrases (or loops of the backing track) with his bravado, stopping directly at the start of phrase 17. [[spoiler:She falls for him.]]* IntercourseWithYou: The lengthy jams on their first album, "Get It Up" and "The Stick."* LargeHam: Morris Day.* SelfDeprecation: The conversation in "Wild and Loose", as well as several moments in "Jerk Out".* SelfTitledAlbum* StealthParody: "After Hi School", "Onedayi'mgonnabesomebody" and "Gigolos Get Lonely Too".* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The heavy rock of "Skillet".* SpokenWordInMusic: Some of their songs eschew ending in favour of repeating the backing track and adding dialogue that may or may not be all that funny. The song "Chili Sauce" is five straight minutes of seductive dialogue, while "Wild and Loose" features two sets of dialogue at once: groupies who were happy to have met Morris in the left channel and the band in the right, culminating in Morris meeting the girls again in the center channel, unable to remember who they are.* TitleByNumber: "777-9311" was named after Dez Dickerson's actual phone number (in-universe, the reporter in "Grace" lists it as her number.) Dickerson had to change it after receiving unwanted calls.

----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tf.jpg[[caption-width:500:The Family (not [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily for the whole family though]]...)]]

Now, here's a bit of a trickier case. After The Time disintegrated for the first time in 1984, Prince restructured the band with a few new musicians and renamed it "The Family". Its members were as follows:

But on the resulting album, ''The Family'' (1985), Prince decided to be a ControlFreak and once again wrote nearly all songs ("River Run Dry", the sole exception, was written by The Revolution drummer Bobby Z.) and played everything on the album, simply overdubbing vocals by Peterson and Melvoin and Leeds' saxophone and flute.

The resulting album contained a mishmash of high-energy funk ("Mutiny"), soul ballads ("Desire"), jazz instrumentals ("Susannah's Pajamas" - this title, named after Wendy's sister, whom Prince was dating at the time, should not be surprising if you've made it this far down the page...) and [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] ("The Screams of Passion"). However, it did contain a small song called "Nothing Compares 2 U", which was CoveredUp and turned into a massive hit single by Sinéad O'Connor in 1990.

The band itself was short-lived, lasting barely a year before Peterson left, sick of Prince's {{Control Freak}}ism. Still, it marked the beginning of Prince'ss long-term collaboration with Eric Leeds, for what it's worth.

!The Family provides examples of:

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Their covers and promo pictures.* {{Instrumentals}}: Notable as the first associate band to feature them on an album.* SelfTitledAlbum: Either Prince's associates had to have self titled albums as part of their contract, or he saves the good titles for himself.----[[AC:Carmen Electra]]

Yes, CarmenElectra used to be a back-up dancer for Prince (in fact, he gave her the [[StageNames Stage Name]] "Carmen Electra") in the early nineties and had a self-titled album produced by him in 1993. The album's famous for being a [[SnarkBait complete shitburger]]. A really funny skewering of it, complete with some audio samples, is available on [[http://www.i-mockery.com/bad-albums/carmen/default.php i-Mockery]].

!Carmen Electra provides examples of:

* MoodWhiplash: The entire album focuses on Carmen's hot body and [[InformedAbility "impressive" rhyming skills]], until a news report on the Exxon Valdez oil spill is heard. The last song suddenly turns into an Earth awareness campaign.* PissTakeRap: Ms. Electra herself raps for the full duration of the album. And it is ''awful''.* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Carmen's attempt at being street, especially when rapping about the Exxon Valdez spill.* ProductPlacement: Prince used the second segue on this album to subtly advertise many other songs that he worked on, via pretending to dial through a radio: "Hit U in the Socket" by Rosie Gaines, "In a Word or 2" by Monie Love, "The Voice" by Mavis Staples, "Sexy M.F." by Prince and the New Power Generation, "With This Tear" by Celine Dion and "Goldnigga" by the New Power Generation. This serves absolutely no purpose in the context of the album.* {{Sexophone}}: Painfully invoked on another segue, complete with crashing waves.----'''With their own input'''

-->''She wants to lead the glamorous life''-->''Without love, it ain't much''-->'''Sheila E.''', [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment "The Glamorous Life"]]

Drumming [[ItRunsInTheFamily runs pretty big]] in Sheila Escovedo's family: her father Pete is a famous percussionist, her uncle Alejandro drummed for various punk bands before starting a solo career, her other uncle Coke played with Santana, her other ''other'' uncle Javier founded the seminal punk band The Zeros, and Tito Puente was her godfather.

It's little surprise then that Sheila took up drumming and quickly became really good at it, playing with such luminaries as George Duke, MarvinGaye, Alphonso Johnson, HerbieHancock and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Lionel Richie]] before her early twenties.

Prince first met Sheila when attending a concert where she was playing with her dad. He quickly brought her into her entourage, where she contributed drums and percussion in the studio and provided vocals to "Let's Go Crazy"'s famous B-side, "Erotic City" (and some other vocals here and there, like the "transmississippirap" on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night"). She secured herself the position of drummer for Prince after The Revolution disbanded, but left Prince in 1989 due to a collapsed lung. This split has notably been free of the ''really'' bad blood that other splits engendered, and the two have collaborated occasionally to this day.

While Sheila did attract attention for her vocals on "Erotic City", she quickly proved she was not another Vanity: while Prince did produce her first two solo albums, she got some co-writing credits and added her drumming all over the place. Most notably, Sheila at first broke from the very explicit "personas" that had been assumed by Prince's previous {{Girl Group}}s: her lyrics were decidedly PG-rated, dealing with love (not IntercourseWithYou, at least not yet) and sung in a pleasant, girl-next-door voice. In fact, many of the funk-pop songs existed solely for the sake of lots and lots of percussion solos. Nobody seemed to mind though. These two albums, ''The Glamorous Life'' and ''Romance 1600'', were well-received and spawned two ''[[EpicRocking really long]]'' hits, the super-catchy ditty about how materialism's, like, superficial, man, "The Glamorous Life" (9 minutes) and a duet with Prince entitled "A Love Bizarre" (12 minutes!). Prince was noticeably less involved with the self-titled ''Sheila E.'', letting David Z. produce the album and writing only a few songs.

Sheila's solo albums after leaving Prince's organisation were {{New Sound Album}}s somewhat, introducing Latin and jazz influences into her upbeat pop-funk. She took a long break from her solo career after the horribly-titled ''Sex Cymbal'', presumably out of embarrassment that she put out an album titled ''Sex Cymbal''[[note]]we can't blame her for that[[/note]], and played with various other musicians (including being part of three versions of Music/RingoStarr's All-Starr Band). She also reunites with Prince every once in a while for live concerts and contributed to his album ''3121''.

* EpicRocking: "The Glamorous Life", "Oliver's House", "A Love Bizarre", all of which fall squarely into EarWorm territory.* {{Foil}}: She played this role in Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band concerts, especially during the solos where Ringo would comically fail to keep up with her.* IncrediblyLamePun: ''Sex Cymbal'', so bad it hurts.* PissTakeRap: Averted - her MotorMouth reading of Edward Lear's "The Table and the Chair" on "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night" is actually good. (The liner notes credit it as "transmississippirap" since Prince recorded her doing it over the phone from, well, the other side of the Mississippi River.)* SelfTitledAlbum: Interestingly, done for the third album.* SpokenWordInMusic: "Toy Box". It sounds like a normal funk song at first, and then right at the end Sheila blind-sides you with a long, shouty rant that makes you wonder who spiked her coffee and with what.* WordSaladLyrics: "Dear Michaelangelo", "Toy Box", "Romance 1600" and "Bedtime Story" have a special ability to make you scratch your head and go "huh?".* WordSaladTitle: "Merci for the Speed of a [[MonsterClown Mad Clown]] in the Summer"... what?* YouMakeMeSic: Mich'''e'''langelo, not Mich'''ae'''langelo.[[note]]Maybe it's actually about a guy named Michael Angelo?[[/note]]----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ic.jpg[[caption-width:300:I'm Ingrid Chavez, and [[Memes/BioWare this is my favourite]] [[Franchise/MassEffect coffee on the citadel]].]]

[[AC:Ingrid Chavez]]

Ingrid Chavez is Mexican-American and has been married to David Sylvian of the band Music/{{Japan}} since 1992.

Chavez is one of those fringe figures in Prince's entourage. That's probably because she ain't an actual singer, but a poet instead. Prince was impressed by her poetry and quickly recruited her into his ever-expanding harem-cum-musical empire, first letting her contribute vocals to ''Lovesexy''. Around this time, she cultivated a mysterious appearance and was nicknamed "The Spirit Child". OK, sure, whatever, at least Prince didn't try to rename her to "Clitoris" or something like that.

Chavez next played Prince's romantic interest in ''GraffitiBridge''. It was during the filming that she, Music/LennyKravitz and Andre Betts co-wrote and recorded Madonna's famous hit "Justify My Love" - reportedly, Chavez came up with most of the lyrics and Kravitz thought sampling Music/PublicEnemy would be a nifty idea.[[note]]Judging by the success, turned out it was.[[/note]] A solo album followed, ''May 19, 1992'' (released, oddly enough, in 1991), which combined Chavez's spoken-word poetry with atmospheric backing music composed by Prince and was favourably reviewed, one critic comparing it to "an entire album of 'Justify My Love's".

Chavez drifted out of Prince's [[strike:harem]] musical empire soon after. Since then, she's frequently recorded with her husband David Sylvian and with Ryuichi Sakamoto of Music/YellowMagicOrchestra.

!Ingrid Chavez provides examples of:

* HappilyMarried: Until her divorce from DavidSylvian in the early 2000s.* SpokenWordInMusic: Her albums are essentially poems with a backing track. She sometimes employs a chorus that she does sing, however.----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prince_10_990.jpg[[caption-width:300:...with the wardrobe of the Old Generation]]

[[AC:New Power Generation]] (overlaps with '''actual band''')

Here's another interesting case. In 1990, Prince started forming a new backing band for himself, after the Revolution imploded in 1986 and his newer, untitled backing band was starting to wear thin. He christened them the New Power Generation and their members are:

Of course, there are plenty more members, but these are the ones that appeared on the albums accredited solely to them. Prince, like The Time, wrote nearly all of their music, but the band actually played their own instruments. Prince deliberately introduced the NPG's work as a separate entity by releasing his own song "Pink Cashmere" the same day that NPG's debut album ''Goldnigga'' came out. However, Prince being Prince, he took up the name Tora Tora so he could contribute to the NPG's second album, ''Exodus''. The band was ultimately dismantled in 1996, where Prince retained the name but hired entirely new musicians. For this second iteration, he included himself in the NPG and took over for lead vocal duties. His likeness appearing on the cover of ''Newpower Soul'' cemented this notion. While the band has not recorded any further albums, they remained Prince's backing band until 2012, contributing a lot musically to his live show.

!New Power Generation provides examples of:* AndYouWereThere: Invoked by Sonny in the closing minute of ''Exodus''.* ConceptAlbum: ''Goldnigga'' loosely based itself around phone calls between members. For example, in one segue it's mentioned that "the record company" wants a song with a positive message, and another band member responds by saying he's got a new song to try out. Cue said song. ''Exodus'' goes into full blown concept with 12 of its 21 tracks containing SpokenWordInMusic. On this album, the band show up at a nightclub only for them to be playing "ladies night" fare. After the band kicks out the DJ and plays their own music, the DJ gets back at the instigator Sonny by introducing him to two women who will poison him later via a bowl of soup. The soup makes him dream he and the band are in the future taking over a spaceship from a guy who wants to use his "endorphinmachine" to take over the world. Then [[AllJustADream Sonny wakes up]].* EpicRocking: "Johnny" and "The Exodus Has Begun", amongst others.* NWordPrivileges: ''Goldnigga''.* PaperThinDisguise: Prince calling himself Tora Tora in order to sing lead vocals on ''Exodus''. It didn't fool anyone.* RevolvingDoorBand: The list above provides only half of the people who have been part of the NPG.* SpokenWordInMusic: Some on ''Goldnigga'' and tons on ''Exodus''. The latter features additional skits unrelated to the shoestring plot in which Sonny watches television; the show he's watching is a skit within a skit by Prince and each one goes on for three minutes a piece (but are surprisingly funny.) Meanwhile, the single "The War" is 26 minutes of FauxlosophicNarration.----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mg.jpg[[caption-width:228:Millions of stupid jokes about harems and we finally encounter Prince's ex-wife. ''Coincidence?'']]

[[AC:Mayte Garcia]]

Mayte first joined Prince's [[strike:harem]] entourage in 1990 as a dancer, later graduating to occasionally contributing vocals in GratuitousSpanish. She then married Prince in 1996. They were due to become parents, but the baby died from a rare skull disease named Pfeiffer's syndrome a week after he was born. The marriage disintegrated after this traumatic event and Prince and Mayte divorced in 2000. Mayte has since returned to dancing and choreography.

Prince produced and co-wrote one solo album for her in 1995 (possibly in his sleep; it's kind of what he does...), entitled ''Child of the Sun''. Nobody really noticed its existence and it's since gone out of print. In fact, the most notable song it contained was a [[TheCoverChangesTheGender a gender-reversed]] version of the cheesiest, TastesLikeDiabetes-est song Prince ever wrote, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World". Yeah, it's like that. And a cover of "Brick House" by The Commodores, which is at least not as corny.

The second disc of Prince's ''Emancipation'' was [[TheMuse inspired]] by their marriage and her pregnancy. Yes, this means Mayte is partially responsible for TastesLikeDiabetes-fests like "Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife". We hope she enjoyed the gift, because we might have not.

!Mayte provides examples of:

* CoverVersion: besides the aforementioned Prince cover, she covered "Brick House" by The Commodores (renamed to "House of Brick" for Prince knows what reason).* TheMuse: One of the less fruitful cases?* TheCoverChangesTheGender----[[AC:Támar]]

One of the latest Princettes, Ashley Támar Davis sang backing vocals on Prince's album ''3121'' on the song "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed", and played a few live concerts in some small clubs.

Prince co-wrote and co-produced (yes, you guessed it!) an album for her named ''Milk & Honey''. It was set to be released in August 2006, but [[{{Vaporware}} got delayed and later cancelled]]. A few promotional copies have surfaced after being sold in Japan, and one of its songs, "Kept Woman", was re-recorded and handed off to Bria Valente.

----[[AC:Bria Valente]]

-->''[[TemptingFate A whole lotta people are gonna get pregnant off this!]]''-->'''Prince''', [[http://www.last.fm/music/Bria+Valente describing Valente's album to the Los Angeles Times]] (clearly oblivious about his track record)

Another protege in the grand tradition of Vanity and Apollonia, Brenda "Bria Valente" Fuentes began her association with Prince in late 2006, contributing backing vocals to "The Song of the Heart" (from the movie ''Film/HappyFeet'') and his album ''Planet Earth''.

Prince produced a solo album for her named ''Elixer'', in 2009. He described it as "a quiet storm" album, raising the prospect that he still hasn't abandoned his search for erotic sounds and would give the world another hilarious trip to Narmland. ''Elixer'' was bundled together with Prince's two solo albums ''[=LOtUSFLOW3R=]'' and ''[=MPLSound=]'' as a three-disc set, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts. [[SarcasmMode Because we all know it would've been a huge hit by itself...]] It usually got singled out as the weakest album of the three-disc set by reviewers.

----[[AC:3RDEYEGiRL]]

Prince's latest backing band, [=3RDEYEGiRL=] is a three-piece rock and blues outfit. Not much is known about them presently, but they've proven in concerts and television appearances that they are a very solid and promising band. Prince placed the call to each member between 2010 and 2012, and created the band name himself – he didn't tell the girls the name, instead letting them find out when Jimmy Fallon called them by it during a live television appearance. Unfortunately, Prince being Prince, he had to screw them out of solo success by releasing his own album ''ART OFFICIAL AGE'' on the same day as their album.

Martika was a pop singer and actress in TheEighties, mostly known for appearing on ''KidsIncorporated'' and... uh, Mr. T's [[DemotivationalPoster motivational]] video ''[[OldShame Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!]]''.

Her first album, ''Martika'', was released in 1988. It spawned a #1 hit single, "Toy Soldiers", which Music/{{Eminem}} later SampledUp for his own song "Like Toy Soldiers", and two other hits, "More Than You Know" and a [[CoverVersion cover]] of Music/CaroleKing's "I Feel The Earth Move".

Her second album, ''Martika's Kitchen'', was released in 1991. This album was produced and co-written by Prince, who combined Martika's pop music with elements from gospel, jazz, {{Funk}}, R&B and Cuban music and lyrically explored such SeriousBusiness topics as crack babies, racism and homophobia. An interesting melange to be sure, which eventually kind of flunked on the charts. Thus endeth Martika's association with Prince.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Martika tries to out-lame Sheila with ''Violince''. Close, but no cigar.* SelfTitledAlbum: This wasn't Prince's fault for once.----http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ms.jpg

[[AC:Mavis Staples]]

Much like Martika, Mavis Staples had already had a career going before her association with Prince. And it wasn't too bad either, what with being famous for having a great voice, recording with her family as The Staple Singers and being a civil rights activist in TheSixties.

Staples collaborated with Prince for a few years, contributing the song "Melody Cool" to the ''GraffitiBridge'' soundtrack and having two solo albums, ''Time Waits For No One'' (1989) and ''The Voice'', co-written and produced by him. And that's... kind of it actually.

Sheena Easton was a Scottish singer back in TheEighties who scored a few hits occasionally, most notably with "Morning Train (9 to 5)" and "For Your Eyes Only", the theme for the [[Film/ForYourEyesOnly James Bond movie of the same name]]. Her music was largely pop with bits of soft rock and [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] floating around, with a pretty ordinary image.

[[SarcasmMode Which obviously made her the perfect woman to collaborate with Prince]]. Prince produced her 1984 album ''A Private Heaven'' and predictably transformed her into another trying-too-hard-to-be-sexy siren. She did get two hit singles out of it, "Strut" and the {{Narm}}y "Sugar Walls", so it probably wasn't that bad of a deal. Easton sang on two other Prince songs, "U Got the Look" and "The Arms of Orion", and collaborated with him some more on ''The Lover in Me'' before parting ways with him.

As a bit of trivia, she has contributed twice to ''PhineasAndFerb'', guest starring and singing (in a duet with Dr. Doofenschmirtz) "Happy Evil Love Song" in the episode "Chez Platypus" and singing "When Will He Call Me?" in "Backyard Aquarium". Which means that she has the distinction of being [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the second artist on this list both to have had a career before Prince and to have been on a children's television show.]]

!Sheena Easton provides examples of:* MoralGuardians: "Sugar Walls" is best known for being one of the songs listed on the PMRC's "Filthy Fifteen" list.----[[AC:{{Music/Madonna}}]]

Prince wrote and produced "Love Song" on {{Music/Madonna}}'s album ''Like a Prayer''. He also played the guitar solos on "Act of Contrition" and "Keep It Together".[[note]]And one on "Like a Prayer", but it was removed from the album version. It's on the maxi-single though.[[/note]]

Completely unrelated to this, former Revolution guitarist (and current one-half of Wendy & Lisa) Wendy Melvoin played guitar on the song "She's Not Me" from the album ''Hard Candy''.----[[AC:Music/KateBush]]

Prince is a fan of Music/Kat Bush, and met her during the 1990 ''Nude Tour'', discussing a collaboration. Bush sent him the song "Why Should I Love You?", asking for backing vocals. When she received it back, Prince had not only sung but also added his own sizeable instrumental overdubs. This baffled Bush and her engineer Del Palmer, who then spent two years working on and off on it to try and "turn it back into a Kate Bush song". It eventually came out on 1993's ''The Red Shoes''.[[note]]The final version also features backing vocals from Bush's friend Creator/LennyHenry, a comedian known for his good Prince impersonation, as well as the obligatory Trio Bulgarka cameo.[[/note]]

Bush also made a cameo appearance on ''Emancipation'', singing backing vocals on "My Computer", but good luck hearing her at all on that song.----[[AC:Music/TheBangles]]

Prince wrote their big hit "Manic Monday", for which he recycled the verse melody of "1999" (fun activity: when you hear "Manic Monday", sing the lyrics from "1999"). He also dated their frontwoman Susanna Hoffs for a while, and that was it.----[[AC:Tevin Campbell]]

Campbell contributed the song "Round and Round" to the ''GraffitiBridge'' soundtrack and provided some additional vocals. Prince repaid him by writing and producing several songs on his 1993 album ''I'm Ready''.----[[AC:Candy Dulfer]]

A Dutch smooth jazz saxophone player who has sporadically contributed to Prince's albums and has served as an on-and-off member of his backing bands. Prince contributed the song "Sunday Afternoon" to her album ''Sax-a-Go-Go''.

She's rather famous for the brutally, {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s that masquerade as her album titles, such as ''Saxuality'', ''Sax-a-Go-Go'' and ''Candy Store''. Also, she's the daughter of Dutch saxophonist Hans Dulfer, if that rings a bell with anybody.

...Anybody?

[[ChirpingCrickets [=*=]crickets*]]

Yeah, thought so.----[[AC:Elisa Fiorillo]]

A backing singer on the ''Batman'', ''Graffiti Bridge'' and ''Diamonds and Pearls'' albums. Fiorillo had one album named ''I Am'' co-produced by Prince and Levi Seacer, Jr. in 1990.

She also contributed a song to the soundtrack of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 3: Snake Eater''.----'''Actual band'''

Its first album, ''Mazarati'', was produced and co-written by Prince and spawned one hit single, the funk-rock "100 MPH".

Notably, Mazarati first received the demo of Prince's song "Kiss", back when it was a blues-styled song. They transformed it into a funk song. Prince was so impressed he added his vocals and guitars on top and released it as a single from ''Parade'', quickly rocketing to #1 on the charts. Mazarati's backing vocals were kept on the song and they were credited for them. They were also initially given an outtake from The Time called "Jerk Out", but this was also later redone by The Time and turned into a #1 single. Mazarati's backing vocals were also kept on "Jerk Out".

Mazarati later moved away from Prince, signed with Motown Records and recorded another album, the [[DeadHorseGenre New Jack Swing-styled]] ''Mazarati 2'', before breaking up.

-->''[[Music/PinkFloyd I've always been mad, I know I've been mad, like the most of us are. It's very hard to explain why you're mad, even if you're not mad...]]''

Not to be confused with the similarly-named PostPunk band led by Monica Richards or the similarly-titled {{Funk}} band led by Gary Cooper (if you're into either of those...), Madhouse was formed in 1987 and intended to be the successor to The Family. Its members were:

Madhouse was a largely instrumental jazz-fusion band with a few funk influences, notable for its song and album titles: both released albums contain 8 songs and are named ''8'' and ''16'' respectively, with the songs on ''8'' being named "One", "Two", "Three", and so on up to "Eight", and the songs on ''16'' being named from "Nine" up to "Sixteen".

Madhouse released only two albums during their short existence, but at least two others were recorded and remain unreleased to this day. Some of their songs tended to show up during Prince's late eighties tours, "Twelve" in particular.

Discography:* ''8'' (1987)* ''16'' (1987)

!Madhouse provides examples of:

* FakeBand: In the few concerts they performed opening for Prince, Madhouse's musicians heavily disguised themselves with baggy clothes and sunglasses.* {{Instrumentals}}* {{Sampling}}: The only vocals on both albums are either samples from ''Film/TheGodfather'' or samples of Vanity simulating an orgasm.* ShoutOut: ''16'' is subtitled "New Directions in Garage Music", in reference to "Directions in Music by MilesDavis" from one of his most important releases, ''Bitches Brew''.----[[AC:94 East]]

The first "real" band Prince ever played in[[note]]He was also previously in a band named Grand Central and then Champagne with André Cymone and Charles Smith, but they never recorded anything[[/note]], 94 East was a funk band that existed between 1975-1979. It was formed by Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin, and included Willie, Prince and André Cymone. Their stuff is hard to find and very likely isn't even worth looking for in the first place anyway.

Their recordings were predictably reissued a couple of times after Prince hit the big time, and the most common of these is the ''Minneapolis Genius'' album. This is technically Prince's first professional album, but he ignores its existence entirely, considering that he had no input into its recording.

-->''Wendy?''-->''Yes, Lisa?''-->''Is the water warm enough?''-->''Yes, Lisa''-->''Shall we begin?''-->''Yes, Lisa''-->'''Prince and the Revolution''', "Computer Blue"

-->''Take a ride on the honeymoon express''-->'''Wendy and Lisa''', "Honeymoon Express"

Childhood friends Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, much like Sheila E. above, had musical families: Wendy's father Mike and Lisa's father Gary (not to be confused with GaryColeman the actor) were highly in-demand session musicians, and Wendy's brother Jonathan also went on to become a musician and served as touring keyboardist for Music/TheSmashingPumpkins... until he [[AuthorExistenceFailure died of a heroin overdose]].

Lisa was the first to join The Revolution as a keyboardist in 1980, replacing Gayle Chapman. Once guitarist Dez Dickerson left in 1983, Lisa pulled the IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine card and got Wendy into the band as a guitarist.

Wendy and Lisa (as they were always credited) were generally acknowledged by fans and critics as The Revolution's "secret weapon": their complex approach to melody and songwriting helped push Prince and the band to a whole different level musically, while their love of Music/TheBeatles was reflected in the {{Pop}} and PsychedelicRock influences they added. Their backing vocals and contributions to ''Purple Rain'', ''Around the World in a Day'' and ''Parade'' are held in very high regard. And their spoken introduction to "Computer Blue" (quoted above) has proven [[PopCulturalOsmosis quite memorable]], being referenced in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' and other places.

Prince decided to repay their hard work by being a complete JerkAss towards them, turning each tour between 1984-1986 into a game of "How can I piss off Wendy and Lisa today?" (answer: giving Leeds Wendy's solos on "Purple Rain", expanding The Revolution with more musicians, antagonising Wendy by bringing her twin sister Susannah in the band and getting romantically involved with her, etc). Prince's asshole behaviour towards Wendy and Lisa in PurpleRain [[FunnyAneurysmMoment wasn't exactly acting.]] In fact, Prince's conflict with the two was one of the key intra-band conflicts that eventually led to Prince's disbanding of The Revolution in 1986.

In response, Wendy and Lisa recorded their first self-titled album in 1987. They co-produced the album with Revolution drummer Bobby Z, called up contributions from family members (namely Wendy's sister Susannah, Lisa's brother David and father Gary), played various instruments, wrote and sang all the songs. The result was a quirky, low-budget pop album filled with [[EarWorm memorable melodies]] and possessing an overall ethereal character. The album received positive reviews, made a bit of headway in the USA and climbed up to a moderate position up in the UK.

For their follow-up album, ''Fruit at the Bottom'', the two abandoned the low-key charms of their debut and tried to take a shot towards success, adding more synths and dance beats to their music. Unfortunately they came up short in the songwriting department, which was reflected in its sales: the USA pretty much ignored it completely, while [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the British again sent it up the charts.]]

Wendy and Lisa next signed with Virgin Records and released a new album, ''Eroica'', a much more eclectic alternative-rock oriented work that didn't sacrifice the group's trademark ethereal atmosphere or memorable melodies. It met with strong reviews and became their biggest success... in the UK, natch.

The two took some time off from their solo career and found a second job out of soundtracks - they've since contributed soundtracks and incidental music for various films and TV shows such as ''Film/{{Toys}}'', ''Film/DangerousMinds'', ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', ''Series/BionicWoman'', ''CrossingJordan'', ''Something New'' and ''Nurse Jackie'', the last of which they won an Emmy for. They also took up work as session musicians, appearing either together or alone on albums by EricClapton, JoniMitchell, Meshell Ndegeocello, Michael Penn, LizPhair, Seal, {{Music/Madonna}} and k.d. lang.

They've also made two solo albums since, the Tchad Blake-produced ''Girl Bros.'' in 1998 and the entirely self-released ''White Flags of Winter Chimneys'' in 2008 (the latter's online release being similar to the ones for ''[[{{Radiohead}} In Rainbows]]'' and ''[[NineInchNails Ghosts I-IV]]''). No word yet on their sales in the UK.

* EightiesHair: They had this back in... well, [[CaptainObvious the eighties]]. [[http://www.last.fm/music/Wendy%2B%2526%2BLisa/+images/3911912 See for yourself.]]* FadingIntoTheNextSong: On the self-titled debut, "Everything But You" and "Light".* GriefSong: "Jonathan" deals with the death of Wendy's brother Jonathan after an overdose during a tour with Music/TheSmashingPumpkins (the same incident resulted in Jimmy Chamberlain being fired from that band.) This topic was also explored in SarahMcLachlan's song "Angel", and Prince's own "The Love We Make" (judging by the hints left in the liner notes).* HeterosexualLifePartners: Except for the "heterosexual" part, of course. For more info, [[http://www.out.com/entertainment/2009/04/16/revolution-will-be-harmonized here]] is a 2009 interview with ''Out'' magazine.* InsistentTerminology: Their group name's either spelled "Wendy '''and''' Lisa" or "Wendy '''&''' Lisa". Nobody seems to agree on this, but the "&" seems to be the most widespread.* {{Instrumentals}}: "White".* InTheStyleOf: Given away right in the title of "Salt and Cherries (Music/{{MC5}})".* LighterAndSofter: ''Fruit at the Bottom''.* LyricalDissonance: A common criticism of ''Fruit at the Bottom'' is that the dance beats clash badly with the lyrics.* Almost PopStarComposer* PowerBallad: "Stay", "Song About".* RearrangeTheSong: "This Is the Life" was rearranged for the ''DangerousMinds'' soundtrack.* SomethingBlues: Played with a bit in the title "Blues Away".* StartMyOwn----[[AC: Matt "Doctor" Fink]]

Matt Fink was a member of The Revolution and the NPG, working with Prince between circa 1979-1991. He played keyboards and became known as "Dr. Fink" for always wearing surgical scrubs on stage. According to Fink, it was the only outlandish outfit that Prince felt looked good on him. According to somebody else, Fink initially wore a prison outfit but discovered during the joint Fire It Up tour in 1979 that one of Music/RickJames' bandmates did that already, and "doctor's scrubs" was the first thing he could think of as a replacement.

His first appearance on record was on "Head" from ''Dirty Mind'', to which he contributed a noisy, atonal synthesizer solo.

Fink is the longest-lasting original member of The Revolution, surviving the band's axing in 1986 and staying on until 1991, when he left along with last remaining Revolutionite Miko Weaver after the fractious Nude Tour.

After he left the Prince camp, he built his own studio (named [=StarVu=] Studios), worked on some videogame soundtracks, created a sample library, put out a solo album named ''Ultrasound'' in 2001, and signed an exclusive management deal for Europe with the company Mozart & Friends. Presumably this will lead to his releases being actually distributed in Europe.

!Dr. Fink provides examples of:* TokenWhite: Prince intentionally assembled the Revolution to be a multi-ethnic, multi-gender band like Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone, and opted not to hire James Harris (later of The Time) because, while good, he did not contribute to the band's diversity. Fink was asked to audition instead and received the job, and while his talent and contribution to The Revolution is undeniable, the fact that he was a white keyboard player did represent a factor in him getting the job. He stopped being the TokenWhite after Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin and Eric Leeds became members.----[[AC: David Z.]]

David "Z." Rivkin, brother of original Revolution drummer Bobby Z. and former member of Lipps Inc., does play instruments but is mostly famous for his work as RecordProducer and engineer who pretty much helped [[TropeCodifier codify]] the whole Minneapolis sound.

After producing and engineering for Prince and his associates in TheEighties, he left the camp sometime around 1989. He's carried on working as a producer ever since, with credits including the Fine Young Cannibals (their second album ''The Raw and the Cooked''), Billy Idol, Neneh Cherry, Terri Nunn, the Music/TransSiberianOrchestra and others.)----